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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27170885">Flowers</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie'>Burgie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Final Fantasy XIV</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/F</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-07 01:29:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,408</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27170885</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Burgie/pseuds/Burgie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A bored Lyse decides to do something nice for a 'friend' while waiting for her to be done with her tasks.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Lyse Hext/Warrior of Light (onesided)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>18</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Flowers</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>In hindsight, Papalymo should perhaps have known that his charge wouldn’t stay in the Druthers very long. Much like her sister, Lyse’s relentless energy followed her off of the battlefield, leaving her restless and prone to fidgeting. However, unlike her sister, Lyse didn’t seem in much of a mind to control it.</p><p>“Yda, where are you going?” Papalymo asked as Lyse rose from her barstool and headed for the door. She turned to look back at him, looking so much like her sister in that outfit. The smile was purely her, though.</p><p>“Oh, just, er, you know… for a walk,” said Lyse. “Gotta stretch my legs, punch a few things, keep in shape after all those meals. Buscarron feeds us too well.” Hearing her comment, the aforementioned man raised his head and smiled at her. Lyse raised her own hand in return.</p><p>“Yda,” Papalymo warned, and Lyse sighed, her shoulders slumping. “We’ve spoken about this at length, it isn’t our place to meddle in business pertaining to primals. At least, not that close.”</p><p>“I know,” said Lyse. “And I wasn’t going to meddle in whatever Buscarron’s sent them out to do. Though I wouldn’t mind keeping her safe from any Garleans about.”</p><p>“She has her friends with her, she is in the safest of hands,” said Papalymo.</p><p>“Yeah, yeah,” said Lyse, waving away his words. “I just like helping her, you know?”</p><p>“That is the only explanation for why you threw yourself halfway down a morbol’s gullet to spare her its bad breath,” said Papalymo.</p><p>“Worth it,” said Lyse with a grin.</p><p>“Was it?” Papalymo asked. “Pray tell me that you aren’t about to go and do that again.”</p><p>“Noo… not unless I have to,” said Lyse. “But Garleans hate Eorzean wildlife almost as much as they hate us, so we probably won’t have to fight any more vilekin if they do need our help here. No, I’m not going looking for trouble.”</p><p>“You never go looking for trouble, Yda,” said Papalymo. “Yet it finds you anyway.”</p><p>“I suppose you can come with me,” said Lyse. “You know the Twelveswood better than me, anyhow.”</p><p>“Just what are you planning, Yda?” Papalymo asked as he tossed some gil onto the bar for Buscarron to cover their meal and hopped down from his barstool to follow Lyse outside.</p><p>“I’m going to pick some flowers for Veronyka,” said Lyse, her cheeks tinted just faintly red. Were Lyse not as easy to read as an open book, Papalymo may have been surprised. But he had known of the girl’s feelings for the miqo’te since day one, if only because she never stopped talking about her.</p><p>“Are you sure that is wise?” Papalymo cautioned her. “You know as well as I that she and the Antecedent are both interested in each other.”</p><p>“I do know that,” said Lyse. “But it can just be like a gift, you know? She deserves nice things.”</p><p>“That she does,” said Papalymo. “And I am certain that she will see it as simply a gift from one friend to another, rather than a gift of courtship.”</p><p>“I just want to do something nice for her, and make her smile not because of something I’ve said or done but for a non-life-threatening gesture,” said Lyse. “I’ve saved her so many times, but… just this once, a gift of something physical instead of the gift of her life.”</p><p>“So long as you are not planning on trying to win her affections,” said Papalymo.</p><p>“I could never do that to Min,” said Lyse. “Not after everything she’s done for me.” For, after Minfilia had gleaned the truth behind the mask, she had informed Lyse of it in the gentlest of ways, giving sympathy for her loss. In that moment, Lyse had been terrified of being thrown out, revealed for who she truly was. But instead, Minfilia had called a meeting of the closest Scions, telling them the truth and swearing them to secrecy. It was the first time that Lyse had felt truly at home in the Scions, safe with them, her secret kept for as long as was needed.</p><p>“Though, I suppose, such an action may spur her into action,” said Papalymo. “Jealousy and competition are oft the great motivators.” He smiled at her, Lyse grinning at him in return.</p><p>“Well then, show me where these flowers are, O Expert of the Twelveswood,” said Lyse. Papalymo chuckled, shaking his head at her theatrics.</p><p>Knowing that it would be wise to remain close to the Druthers for when the adventuring party returned, Paplymo led Lyse to a spot of land that would be dangerous, had they both been average travellers.</p><p>“Uh, Papalymo, a roselet wasn’t the type of flower I had in mind,” said Lyse, watching he monstrous flowers from a safe distance. Papalymo laughed.</p><p>“Where the wild roselets bloom, other roses are sure to follow,” said Papalymo. “It is simply a matter of putting down the offending vilekin.”</p><p>“Roses might be a bit… too obvious,” said Lyse. “Oh! But now that I think of it, I did see some little flowers growing near the water.”</p><p>“Which water?” Papalymo asked. Lyse bristled at his deadpan tone.</p><p>“Uhh, near those… what are the mud puppies called in the South Shroud again?” Lyse asked.</p><p>“Well, I shan’t be wrestling with them,” said Papalymo. “Lead the way.” Lyse grinned and took off, Papalymo uttering a quick incantation to keep up with her.</p><p>As promised, Papalymo stood back while Lyse fought the creatures that could have been left alone, being rather docile. Still, she seemed satisfied by the time she wiped most of the mud off herself and bent to begin plucking blue and white flowers that grew by the water’s edge.</p><p>“Perfect,” Lyse declared, standing with a fistful of the tiny flowers. “Friends give each other flowers all the time, right?”</p><p>“Normally I’d say no, but Solar is rather affectionate and possibly will not see it as anything other than a friendly interaction,” said Papalymo. “Or she won’t, rather.”</p><p>“And that’s the important thing,” said Lyse. “Do you wanna bet on if Minfilia’s going to also make a gesture after this?”</p><p>“It is quite rude to bet on another’s romantic life,” said Papalymo. Lyse pouted at him. “But very well, perhaps Thancred may even be interested.”</p><p>“Yes!” Lyse cheered. “Now, let’s see if we can’t get cleaned up before she gets back.”</p><p>At the Druthers, Lyse was greeted with a ‘free’ shower of a bucket of water thrown on her courtesy of Buscarron declaring that she would not set foot in his establishment coated in mud, and then sat outside to dry and wait for Veronyka and her friends.</p><p>Mercifully, the group took just long enough for Lyse to dry before she spotted them rounding the corner and walking through the entryway.</p><p>“You’re back!” Lyse cried, bounding to her feet and running over to them with a grin. She presented the flowers to Veronyka with a flourish, her heart feeling as though it might burst from her chest. “These are for you.”</p><p>“Wow, Yda, really?” Veronyka asked, her ears going back in delight as she took the flowers and smiled at her friend. “How sweet, thank you.”</p><p>“You’re welcome,” said Lyse, grinning. She could sense the hrothgar’s eyes on her but chose to ignore it, knowing that Jack was as protective of Veronyka as Papalymo was of her. “I figured you deserved a reward other than, y’know, clothes and gil and food.”</p><p>“It’s always something practical, it’s nice to just get something… pretty,” said Veronyka, looking at the flowers. “Thank you, they’re beautiful.”</p><p>“You should go and get your practical thing from Buscarron now,” said Lyse, the day suddenly seeming too hot.</p><p>“And then we can go back and tell Minfilia all about it,” said Veronyka, her eyes lighting up at the thought even as her fingers still lingered on the soft petals of the flowers. “And I can find a vase to put these in.”</p><p>“Exactly,” said Lyse, nodding. She still smiled, even as it hurt, just a little, to see Veronyka so happy to go back and see Minfilia. Maybe the flowers hadn’t been such a good idea, but- well, the look on Veronyka’s face when she’d received them would take a long time to forget about. Lyse would keep that close to her heart forever, even if it was all she had.</p><p>She was used to just making do, after all.</p>
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